Railway-track gauge



May 13, 1%24. 493,883

T. M. KETTQCK RAILWAY TRACK GAUGE Filed Nov. 19. 1921 @hemas mmmk INVENTOR Patented May 1?, 1324.

warren STATES PATENT OFFHCE.

THOMAS MARTIN KITTOGK, OF SCOBEY, LIONTANA, ASSIGN'O'R OF ONE-HALF T0 LLOYD E. ALEXANDER, OF SCOBEY. MONTANA.

RAILWAY TRACK GAUGE.

Application filed November 19, 1921.

To all whom it may (once m:

Be it known that I, THOMAS M. Krr'rooK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Scobey, in the county of Daniels and State of Montana, have invented new and useful Improvements in Railway-Track Gauges, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a gaging means for properly spacing the rails of a railroad track when laying the same.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved device for the purpose stated, which is simple and light in construction,

" yet possessing strength and rigidity, which is provided with a quick-releasing means, whereby the gage may be readily attached or detached from the rails, and which will enable one man to perform the work of two.

The invention Will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, with the understanding,

however, that the invention is not confined to any strict conformity with the showing of the drawing, but may be changed and modified, so long as such changes and modifications mark no material departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side view of the gauge applied to the rails.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. a is a fragmentary view in perspective of the operating means for one of the jaws.

Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a tubular body member having fixed'jaws 3 and 4 located at opposite ends of the body member. The jaw 3 is U-shaped in form and is formed integral with a sleeve 5, rigidly secured in any approved manner to one end of the body member 1. The jaw 3 overhangs the top of the rail andhas a depending arm or lug 31 adapted to engage the inner side of the rail. The jaw or lug l may be separately or integrally formed with the body member, but rigidly secured thereto. Slidably mounted in one end of the body member isa jaw 6 having an in- Serial No. 516,451.

wardly projecting lip 7 adapted to grip beneath the head of a rail 8 at the outside. The shank 9 of this jaw is slidably mounted in bearings, one of which, 10, forms a closure for the outer end of the sleeve 5, the other bearing, 11, forming a closure for the end of the body 1.

At the inner'end of'the shank 9 is secured a disk 12, and between the disk and the bearing 11 is mounted the spring 13 coiled around the shank 9 of the jaw 6. Any outwardmovement of theshank 9 will cause the disk to move outwardly toward the end of the body member 1, and compress the spring 13, so that when the jaw 6 is released from its engaged position with the rail 8, ittwill readily return to its normal inward position by reason of the expansion of the spring 13. This construction provides a quick-releasing and applying means at one end of the bar or member. This means is adapted to automatically engage the-rail.

A slidably mounted rack 14 is provided with a jaw 15, likewise having an inturned lip 7 adapted to engage beneath the head of the opposite rail 8. The rack is slidab-le in bearings 16 and 17 mounted within the tubular body member 1, the bearing 16 forming a closure for the outer end of the body 1. Midway of the ends of the rack let is formed a slot 19, through which is inserted a pin 20, having its ends secured in the body member 1. The pin acts as a stop to prevent the racklt from bein withdrawn from the body member. ecured to the rack, and near the inner end of the same, is a disk 18, against which one end of a coiled spring 21 abuts, the other end of the spring abutting against a stop 22, secured within and to the tubular body 1.

A socket 23 pivotally mounted between upturned parallel flanges 24, which are out from the material of the body member 1 to form a slot, is adapted to receive an operating handle 25. The socket is oscillatable in the slot and carries a pivotally mounted operating pawl 26 adapted to engage the teeth of the rack for forcing the rack 14 v inwardly of the body member, when the outwardly of the body member by the spring when the operating pawl 26 is released from its engagement with the teeth.

The pawl 26 is provided with a laterally extending pin 28, which is adapted to be engaged by a pivoted trigger 29, for main taining the trigger in a position where it will always be ready to engage a pin 30 laterally extending from the dog 27. As the handle 25 is reciprocated to acquire a new position for the pawl 26 for engaging consecutive teeth of the rack 1a, the pin 28 will always maintain the trigger 29 in an outward position with respect to the pin 30, so that at no time will the trigger 29 fall behind the pin 30 and therefore fail to grip the pin when it is attempted to release the dog 27.

The arm 31 is rounded on its outer face in order that the aws 3 and 6 may be readily forced down in gripping relation with the rail 8 and thus, in a sense, provides a pair of cooperating gripping jaws for engaging the rail. This function of the automatic gripping of the rail eliminates the necessity of twisting the gauge when positioning jaws 3 and 6 in gripping relation with a rail head.

The operation of my device is as follows: The jaw 6 by means of the lip 7 is gripped over the head of the rail and the body member is pushed downwardly so that the rounded arm 31 may slide upon the head of the rail and down into cooperating gripping relation with the jaw 6 upon the rail. This constitutes an automatically operating means to grip the rail. The outer edge of the rack 14: will then be placed in such a position that it will be seated upon the head of an oppositely disposed rail with the jaw 15 in engagement. The operating handle '25 is moved inwardly toward the body member 1, so that the pawl 26 engaging the teeth of the rack 14: will force the rack inwardly. The dog 27 being forced into engagement with consecutive teeth of the rack by the spring 32, will always act to maintain the rack in position against the pressure of the spring 21, the spring being compressed between the rigid member 22 and the disk 18. The reciprocation of the handle 25 is continned until the rail is in its proper position, which is determined by the fact that the jaw 15 cannot be moved any further inwardly toward the jaw 1. In the reciprocation of the operating handle 25, for forcing the rack inwardly of the body member, the handle is never moved outwardly beyond a right-angular position with respect to the body member 1.

vVhen it is desired to remove the gauge from the rail, the operating handle 25 is moved outwardly beyond a right-angular position with the body member 1 so that the trigger 29 will be moved upwardly and slightly rearwardly while engaging the pin 30, thus lifting the pin, and likewise the dog 27 from its engagement with the teeth on the rack 14-. lVhen the dog 27 has been released from the teeth of the rack, the spring 21 being under tension, will act against the disk 18 and quickly force the rack 14 and the integrally formed jaw 15 outwardly and away from its engaging position with the rail 8. The body member 1 may then be tilted upwardly, when the jaw 3 will slip away from its engaged position with the head of the rail 8 and the whole gauge may then be removed.

What is claimed is z- 1. A track gauge comprising a body member, rigid jaws at the end of the body member to engage the inner sides of a pair of rails, movably mounted jaws cooperating with the rigid jaws to grip the outer sides of said rails, hand-operated means for looking one of the movable jaws on the rail, the other movable jaw being elastically held, and means for projecting the hand-operated movable jaw in detached relation with the outer side of the rail.

2. A track gauge comprising a body member, cooperating pairs of jaws at each end of the body, one of said pairs of jaws adapted to automatically grip a rail.

3. A track gauge comprising a body member, cooperating pairs of jaws at each end of the body member, one of each pair of said jaws being springactuated, and manually operated means for extending or contracting one of the spring-actuated jaws, the other spring-actuated jaw acting automatically to grip the rail.

4. A track gauge comprising a body member, two pairs of cooperating jaws at opposite ends of the body member adapted to grip a pair of rails, manually operated means for moving one of the jaws of one pair relatively to the other jaw to grip a rail, means for projecting said movable in detached relation with the rail, and

spring-actuated means independent of the manually operated means for moving one of the jaws of the other pair to. grip a rail automatically.

5. A track gauge comprising a body member, cooperating pairs of jaws at each end of the body member, each pair comprising a. fixed jaw and a spring pressed movable jaw, and each pair operating independently, means for sliding and locking one of the movable jaws, and means for releasing said movable jaw to cause the spring to project the movable jaw in detached relation with the outer side of the rail.

6. A track gauge comprising a body member, fixed jaws at each end of the body member, each jaw engaging the inner sides of spaced rails, spring-pressed movable jaws slidable within the body and each cooperating with a fixed jaw to grip the outer sides of said rails, means for moving one of the spring-pressed jaws inwardly against the pressure of its spring, and means for releasing said spring-pressed jaw to cause the spring to project the jaw in detached relation beyond the outer side of one rail, the other spring-pressed jaw operating independently to grip and release the other rail.

7. A track gauge comprising a body member, 21 fixed and a movable jaw at one end of the body member, a fixed jaw and a slidably mounted spring-pressed jaw at the other end of the body member, a rack con nected to the last-mentioned jaw, an operating handle provided with a pawl for advancing the rack within the body member, and a dog engaging the rack for maintaining the rack in advanced position and its associated jaw in gripping relation with the rail.

8. A track gauge comprising a body memher, a fixed and a movable jaw at one end of the body member, a fixed jaw and a slidably mounted spring-pressed jaw at the other end of the body member, a rack connected to thelast-mentioned jaw, an operating handle provided with a pawl for advancing the rack within the body, a dog engaging the rack for maintaining the rack in advanced position and its associated jaw in gripping relation with the rail, and a trigger carried by the handle for releasing the dog to disengage the jaw from the rail.

9. A track gauge comprising a body member; a fixed U-sha-ped jaw at one end of said member, said jaw having a depending arm to engage the inner side of the rail while the jaw lies upon the rail, a springpr'essed jaw engaging the other side of the rail and mounted within the body member,

said spring-pressed jaw being passed over the top of the rail between the arms of the U-shaped jaw, and manually-operated means mounted at the other end of the body member to engage the other rail.

10. A track gauge comprising a body member, a quick releasing means located at one end of the body member and adapted to engage one rail, a manually operated means at the other end of the body member to engage the other rail, each of said means operating independently, and means for locking the manually operated means in its engagement with the rail, said locking means being released by the movement of said manually operated means.

11. A track gauge comprising a bar having gauge lugs thereon to engage the inner sides of the heads of parallel rails; means slidably mounted upon each end of said bar for engaging the outer side of an adjacent railyand means for moving the rail engaging means to move the inner side of the head of said rail into contact with the adj acent gauge lugs.

12. A track gauge comprising a body member, cooperating pairs of jaws at each end of the body member, each pair com prising a fixed jaw and a movable aw, handoperated means for moving one of the movable jaws into gripping relation with the rail, a dog for maintaining the movable jaw in such relation, and a trigger operated by said hand-operated means for releasing the dog to disengage the jaw from the rail.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature THOMAS MARTIN KITTOCK. 

